Isaie 44

¹And now hear, o Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.

²Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, the helper from the womb: fear not o my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock.

⁴And they shall spring the herbs as willows beside the waters running by.

⁵This man shall say: I am our Lord's: and another man shall call in the name of Jacob, and this will write with his hand, To the Lord: and in the name of Israel he shall be resembled.

⁶Thus saith our Lord the King of Israel; and the redeemer thereof the Lord of hosts: I am the first, and I the last, and beside me there is no God.

⁷Who is like to me? Let him call and declare: and let him expound me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: the things to come, and that shall be hereafter let them shew unto them.

⁸Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled, from that time I have made thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me, and a maker, whom I have not known?

⁹All the makers of an idol are nothing, and their best beloved things shall not profit them. Themselves are their witnesses, that they do not see, nor understand, that they may be confounded.

¹⁰Who hath formed a god, and molten a sculptile profitable to nothing?

¹¹Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the makers are of men: they shall all assemble, they shall stand and fear, and shall be confounded together.

¹²The iron-smith hath wrought with the file, with coals, & with hammers he hath formed it, & hath wrought in the arm of his strength: he shall hunger and faint, he shall not drink water, and shall become weary.

¹³The carpenter hath stretched out a rule, he hath formed it with a plain: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man, as it were a beautiful man dwelling in a house.

¹⁴He hath cut down cedars, taken the elm tree, & the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain nourished.

¹⁵And it was made a fire for men: he took of them, and was warmed: and kindled them, & baked bread: but of the rest he wrought a god, & adored: he made a sculptile, and bowed down before it.

¹⁶Half he burnt with fire, and of the half broiled he flesh & eat it: he sod pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.

¹⁷But the rest thereof he made a god, and a sculptile to himself, he boweth before it, and beseecheth, saying: Deliver me, because thou art my God.

¹⁸They have not known, nor understood: for they have forgotten, that their eyes could not see, and that they could not understand with their heart.

¹⁹They do not recount in their mind, nor know, nor feel, that they should say: Half thereof I have burnt with fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh, & have eaten, and of the rest thereof shall I make an idol? Shall I fall down before the stock of a tree?

²⁰Part thereof is ashes; an unwise heart adored it, & he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand.

²¹Remember these things, o Jacob, and Israel, because thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, o Israel, forget me not.

²²I have clean taken away thine iniquities as a cloud, & thy sins as a mist: return to me because I have redeemed thee.

²³Praise ye, o heavens, because the Lord hath done mercy: make jubilation ye ends of the earth: ye mountains sound praise, thou forest & every tree thereof, because the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.

²⁴Thus saith our Lord thy redeemer, & thy maker, from the womb: I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the heavens, that establish the earth, and none with me.

²⁵That make the signs of diviners void, and turn the soothsayers into fury. That turn the wise backward, and that make their knowledge foolish.

²⁶That raiseth up the word of his servant, and accomplisheth the counsel of his messengers, which say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited; & to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the deserts thereof.

²⁷Which say to the depth: Be thou desolate, and thy rivers I will dry up.

²⁸Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my pastor, and thou shalt accomplish all my will. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built; and to the temple: Thou shalt be formed.